Russian meteor blast excites Vt. scientist

Bobby Farlice-Rubio has been glued to video coming out of Russia that appears to show a large meteor breaking up over the ground early Friday morning. "To see it that close to the ground in an inhabited area? As far as I know, that's never happened," the science educator said.

More than 1,000 people were injured, many by broken glass from windows shattering in the shockwave that followed the bright blast of light. "If this is the first time you've ever heard of meteors, yeah that's scary to think it broke glass and caused people to go to the hospital," Farlice-Rubio said. "But that's very rare."

Farlice-Rubio works at the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vt., and told New England Cable News the impact on Russia may be extremely unusual, but meteorites themselves are common. Farlice-Rubio explained they often fall in the oceans, on Antarctica, or in the form of space dust we don't even notice.

A meteorite on display at the Fairbanks Museum hit Argentina thousands of years ago, Farlice-Rubio said. It is made of nickel and iron; materials too strong to burn up when falling through Earth's atmosphere, as most material does. "The one in Russia could've been bigger than a UPS truck, but by the time it hit the ground, the only thing that hit the ground was the size of a loaf of bread. And that's because everything else got turned into microscopic dust," Farlice-Rubio said.

NASA scientists told NBC News it is a cosmic coincidence that the event in Russia would happen just as a separate asteroid the size of a swimming pool was hurtling past Earth Friday, closer than some satellites. "We understand its orbit extremely well and we can say with great confidence that there is no chance of hitting the Earth," NASA's Donald Yeomans said.

As for the stunner in Russia, Farlice-Rubio said the meteor's brush with a populated area means video that will give star-gazers plenty to study for years to come, with so much still to learn about our universe. "It's just an invitation to keep looking up," Farlice-Rubio said, smiling.